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About us

2017 was a great year. We have recently been awarded our 3rd Gold medal for Visit Devon's Festival of the Year. We have won Silver & Bronze at the South West Tourism Event of the Year and we'll find out in February if we have won Gold.

The Contemporary Craft Festival was founded in 2003 and is a non-profit making company and we celebrate our 15th Year in 2018. The event has grown from 4,000 to 10,000 visitors since it started and has become one of the most prestigious and much loved craft events in the Europe.

The Contemporary Craft Festival came about when three Bovey Tracey craft businesses joined forces and formed a non-profit making company with the aim to bring a large craft Fair to Bovey Tracey. The aim of the Fair was to showcase the very best in British craft and the create a new, sustainable and strong market place for contemporary craft but also to bring greater prosperity to the town of Bovey Tracey. The town has a long history of making and at one point up to 15 commercial potteries were running in the area.

The House of Marbles, one of the founding companies is located at the former site of the Bovey Pottery which closed its doors in the mid 80's.

The other founding partner was The Devon Guild of Craftsmen, a registered educational charity based in Bovey Tracey. The Festival is led by Sarah James, who has been there from the beginning. Sarah was originally employed as a freelance project manager to start the Fair in 2003 and was made a company director in 2004. Nina Fox joined the team in 2006, becoming project manager and has been a key element in the success and development of the event. Kate Martin joined us in 2015 as our Financial Manager and Fran Moorhouse, Marketing and Sponsorship Assistant completed the team in May 2017.

The Contemporary Craft Festival is a non-profit making company and prides itself that it receives no regular funding from any government agency but does enjoy the sponsorship and support of many prominent regional and national businesses. It is, however, occasionally supported by small grants from various sources including Teignbridge District Council, The Dartmoor Sustainable Fund, Arts Council England and the Ernest Cook Trust. Our aim has always been to be self funding, and we manage that most the time!

We are regularly sponsored by WBW Solicitors, CanonTeign Falls, Savills, Devon Life & madebyhandonline.com and are supported by Plymouth College of Art and Bovey Tracey Town Council. To see our full range of sponsors, CLICK HERE

We couldn’t run The Contemporary Craft Festival without the support of a loyal group of volunteers who stuff envelopes, sell tickets, steward the event and work in the Children’s Craft Tent. Many of the volunteers come from the Friends of the Devon Guild and students from Plymouth University and Plymouth College of Art. We’ve also attracted volunteers from our Facebook campaigns and our visitors also return to volunteer.